WASHINGTON - If all goes as expected, the Senate Friday afternoon will approve a short-term spending bill -- minus the defund ObamaCare language included in a House-passed bill. What will happen next is anyone's guess as a partial government shutdown Tuesday seems a growing possibility.

"We're trying to figure out where the sweet spot is, and at this point, I don't know," said Rep. Charles Boustany, R-Lafayette Friday morning.

Some House Republicans are arguing Republicans should not drop their demand that any spending bill include, at the very least, a measure to defund President Barack Obama's health care law for one year -- even if that means a partial government shutdown.

The Obama Administration was preparing lists of which federal employees will be furloughed Tuesday - the start of the 2014 fiscal year.

A partial government shutdown would hit Louisiana hard, Boustany said.

"I'm been real outspoken that we shouldn't have a government shutdown," Boustany said Friday. "It would hurt Louisiana from oil and gas permitting, to Army Corps of Engineers permits and all the services that people in our state depend on," Boustany said.

On Thursday, the House GOP leadership proposed a plan in which would approve what is known as a "clean CR" - meaning 45-day spending bill without language denying funding for ObamaCare. That, their thinking was, would create time to mount the fight over Affordable Care Act funding for several weeks when Congress will be asked to increase the nation's debt limit so the United States can continue to pay its financial obligations.

But two dozen conservative Republicans said they would vote no on a spending bill without some delay in the Affordable Care Act.

"Right now we don't have the votes for a clean CR," said Boustany, who is close to House Speaker John Boehner. Boustany said like most Republicans he wants a one-year delay in the Affordable Care Act, though he conceded that may not be possible with President Barack Obama and Senate Democrats who control the Senate adamantly opposed.

Other options being considered would be to add to the CR a repeal of a medical devices tax used to fund part of the Affordable Care Act, as well as another provision - championed by Sen. David Vitter, R-La., to deny federal health subsidies for members of Congress and their staffs.

Some House Republicans raised concerns about the Vitter proposal during a House GOP caucus meeting Thursday on grounds it would impose a financial hit on the families of members and staff. Vitter said it's only fair that Congress deal with the same issues faced by many Americans under Affordable Care Act, but Democrats said his proposal would treat Congress worse than the general public because most government employees and workers at large businesses will continue to get subsidized health coverage through their workplaces.

Democrats said Republicans need to do the responsible thing and keep the government operating.

"Ladies and Gentlemen of this House, we are days away from shutting down the government," House Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer said in a Friday floor speech. "We are a few more days from defaulting on the credit of the United States of America. I believe there are a small number of this House who are holding us captive and rendering apparently this House unable to reach compromise. The American people surely will not reward any one of us."